Time of Need
by dumbledourx
Summary: Remus is shocked by James, Sirius, and Peter's reaction to the discovery of his 'furry little problem'.


It was a Thursday night, after dinner, and James Potter was stretched out on his back atop his bed covers, a frown etched on his young face. On the bed across from his sprawled Sirius Black, idly flipping through a Quidditch magazine. James folded his skinny arms over his chest as he let out a large puff of air.

'Will you stop huffing like that?' Sirius said irritably, slapping the magazine down next to him. 'You sound like Pete does trying to climb the ladder into the Divination classroom.'

James said nothing, not even in defence of their friend, just frowned even more deeply. He had been preoccupied all day, deep in thought about something which had been bothering him for months. Sirius propped himself up on one elbow and looked over at him.

'What's the matter?'

'Have you finished all your homework?' James asked, distractedly.

'Since when do you get like this over a bit of bloody homework?

'I've just been thinking, Sirius – you know Remus is going home to visit his mum again tomorrow afternoon – maybe if we had all our homework done, Dumbledore might let us go with him to keep him company. It can't be much fun, can it?'

'Well, how fun can visiting your sick mother once a month be?'

'Exactly,' James said, pushing himself up. Just then, Peter returned from the small adjoining bathroom. 'Now, where is he?'

'Buggered if I know,' Sirius said. 'But shouldn't we probably ask Dumbledore first? Wouldn't want to get his hopes up if it turns out we're not allowed to go with him.'

'You're right. But first we need to make sure Dumbledore will say yes. Pete, grab your Astronomy charts.'

Friday found the three boys, James, Sirius, and Peter, frantically scribbling their Potions essays in the library during lunch time, having finished their Astronomy work the night before. They had gone there straight after class, not wasting any time eating. With some time to spare before their next lesson, Sirius signed the last word of his essay with a dramatic flourish, set down his quill and picked up his parchment, blowing on the last paragraphs to dry the fresh ink.

'Well,' he said, with one last blast of breath over his essay, 'I'm going to grab a bite to eat.'

James glanced up, then back down to his essay as he scribbled the last few sentences.

'I'm finished, too. But there's no time to have lunch before we see Dumbledore,' he said, then disappeared under the table to rummage in his bag. 'Here,' he said, when he re-emerged, passing an apple to each of them, 'I saved these at breakfast. We can eat them on the way up to his office.'

'_Merlin_, I'm so _hungry_,' Sirius groaned, as they approached the staircase to the Headmaster's office.

'Me _too_,' said Peter, with a loud sigh.

'Well, you didn't have to wolf your apple down in three seconds flat, did you?' James said, without looking back at them. 'Sugar Quills.'

Having been escorted to Professor Dumbledore's office just last week, he knew the current password. The gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the office jumped aside, leaving the boys free to ascend the spiral staircase.

'Enter,' a voice said from the other side of the wooden door, which was at the top of the stairs.

The three boys filed into Professor Dumbledore's office, and found their headmaster sitting behind his desk with an ancient looking book open in front of him.

'Misters Potter, Black, and Pettigrew,' he said thoughtfully, closing the book, 'how nice to see you without the escort of a teacher. What brings you here?'

'Well, Professor,' said James, taking a small step forwards, 'we just had a small request about… doing a favour for a friend.'

'And you require my permission to grant this favour?'

Sirius took a step forward now, and leant against the headmaster's desk on one hand. James bit down on his lip, supressing a laugh at his friend's attempt at suaveness.

'Yes, well, you see, sir,' Sirius said, 'doing this favour would involve leaving the school. Temporarily, of course.'

'I see,' said the Headmaster. 'And what precisely is this favour?'

'It's our friend, Remus, sir,' James said, 'he goes home once a month to visit his sick mother - of course you know that - and we wondering whether we might be able to go with him this weekend, to keep him company.'

'We already finished our homework!' Peter piped up.

Professor Dumbledore was peering at the three boys curiously from behind his half-moon glasses. After a moment, he leant forward, resting his elbows on the desk, and pressed his fingertips together in front of him.

'Mr Potter, Mr Pettigrew, Mr Black,' he said, nodding at each of them in turn, 'whilst it is indeed admirable that you would go to such trouble to be there for Mr Lupin in a time of need-'

'You're not going to let us go?' Sirius exclaimed.

'But we finished our homework!' Peter added.

'Please,' the Headmaster said, raising his voice slightly, 'let me finish. It is very kind of you to go out of your way for Mr Lupin, however, I think, on this particular weekend it would be best for you to remain at Hogwarts.'

'But we finished _all_ our homework!' Peter repeated.

'Mr Pettigrew! Mr Potter, Mr Black. Despite your good intentions, I cannot permit you to leave the school on such short notice, and I will not discuss the matter any further.'

Crestfallen, the three boys turned away from Professor Dumbledore.

'Thank you, sir,' James murmured, before they exited.

Once a ways down the corridor, James dropped his bag onto the floor with a heavy thud. He turned to face his two friends, his face thunderous.

'This sucks,' he proclaimed. 'We're just trying to help!'

'We did our homework and everything,' Peter sighed.

'Look, mates, we'll just have to try again next month.'

Forlornly, they trudged back to Gryffindor Tower, planning to drop all their homework books back in the dormitory before their afternoon classes. When they arrived, they found a flustered looking Remus Lupin shoving clothes into a small overnight bag.

'Where are you going?' Peter said.

'Home,' Remus replied, not looking around.

'Already? You get to skip afternoon classes? That's so unfair!'

'I _wish_ I was going to afternoon classes,' Remus said sullenly.

'Listen, Remus,' James said, walking to the other boy's bed, 'we'd been thinking that, well, if it's really so bad at home then maybe we could come with you to keep you company while you visit your mum. We already asked Dumbledore, and he wouldn't allow it, but maybe if _you_ asked him, he'd see that you really wanted us to come with you.'

'Come home with me?' Remus said anxiously. 'No, you- you can't. It's… she's very contagious!'

'If she's so contagious, how come you're allowed to see her then?' Sirius said, leaning against the bed frame.

Remus blanched. Never had he been questioned like this over the circumstances of his disappearances once a month. If he wasn't careful, they would catch on to the truth of his absence.

'I- I-' he faltered.

'That doesn't make sense, Remus,' Sirius continued, 'How can you see her _once a month_ without catching acontagious disease?'

'Look,' Remus said, eventually, avoiding Sirius' question not-so-subtly, 'I don't know why you're being so nice to me but-'

'You don't know _why_? Because you're our friend, you idiot!' James said, loudly.

Remus gave a weak smile, but continued to shove clothing into the small bag, with his back turned the three boys.

'I'll ask,' he lied, 'but don't get your hopes up.'

With great reluctance, Remus plodded his way up to the Headmaster's office… with James, Peter, and Sirius trailing along behind him. They climbed the stairs together, but Remus entered the office before the others and shut the door behind him before the others could follow.

'Ah, Mr Lupin,' Professor Dumbledore said, crossing the room.

'Professor,' Remus rushed, 'they're going to find out – the other boys – they want to come with me this weekend.'

'I am aware,' Dumbledore said, 'of what they have asked. But there is no need for uneasiness; I have not allowed them their request, admirable though it was, nor have I allowed them to discover the true reason behind why I denied them.'

'They're going to find out,' Remus said, frantically. 'They're going to find out that I'm a werewolf. They _can't_ find out. They'll never talk to me again. They'll _hate_ me.'

'On the contrary, Remus, I think your friends care about you far too much to hate you for something which is not your fault,' the Headmaster assured him. 'Now, you might like to tell them that my decision has not changed… and to go to class.'

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he looked his crooked nose at Remus. The younger boy managed a small smile, then crossed the room to deliver the message to his friends.

Suitably disappointed, Sirius, Peter, and James found themselves walking dejectedly down Hogwarts' corridors once more, reluctantly making their way to class. The afternoon was uneventful, and none of the boys spoke much during their classes (much to their professors' delight). After dinner, the boys went straight up to the dormitory.

'We need to strategize,' Sirius said, 'so that we can convince Dumbledore by next month.'

'Exactly how long have we got?' Peter asked. 'Check on his calendar.'

James stood from his perch on the end of his bed and crossed the room to where Remus' bed stood, with his trunk packed neatly beside his bed, and looked up at the organised noticeboard which he had fixed to the wall above his bedside table. His class timetable was tacked on, as well as a to-do list which mainly contained reminders about homework assignments, and a calendar.

'Hmm, okay,' James said, flicking from October to November, looking for the dates marked for a visit home. 'Well…'

Peter and Sirius looked on expectantly.

'Well,' James said, 'he's just got the next date circled. 10th of November. Full moon.'

There was a pause before Sirius spoke.

'And, er, when's the next one?'

'The next full moon, or the next visit to his mother?'

'Visit to his mother.'

'Er…' James flicked over another month, 'the 10th, again.'

There was a long pause before he continued.

'Also the full moon.'

The three boys looked between each other with jaws hanging.

'You don't think-' James started.

'Impossible,' Peter concluded.

'_Merlin's saggy balls_, he's a _werewolf_!' Sirius shouted.

The following morning, after the full moon, Remus awoke in the Hospital Wing, bruised and battered, but relieved. Relieved that it was another full month until he had to undergo the forced transformation once more. Relieved that he had gotten through another month without being discovered. Just barely.

Remus gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, and tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck, wincing as he felt the self-inflicted cuts and scratches pulling open slightly. At that very moment, the doors to the infirmary were pushed open, and in strolled James, Sirius, and Peter.

'What are you doing here?!' Remus said frantically.

'Hello, _Lupin_,' Sirius said.

'We thought you were supposed to be home visiting your Mum,' James said.

'Er,' Remus said, 'well- well, I was, I just… came back early.'

'It looks like you've been… attacked,' Sirius said.

'I, er, was,' Remus said.

'By what?' Peter asked.

'Er...'

Sirius, Peter, and James looked at Remus expectantly, all standing around his bed.

'Remus,' Sirius said, finally, 'we know that you're a werewolf.'

Absolute silence descended upon the room. Remus flicked his gaze between the other three Gryffindors, opening and closing his mouth, trying to form an explanation.

'I- you- you- but-' Remus faltered.

'And we decided we don't care,' Sirius said.

'You- _what_?'

'And we're sorry, too,' Peter said. 'We must have given you a right scare yesterday, making you think we were going to find out.'

'Well, we _did_ find out,' Sirius pointed out.

Despite everything, shocking the other three boys, and himself, Remus laughed.

'Oh, Merlin,' he said, running a hand over his face. 'You- you really don't care?'

'Nope,' James said.

'In fact, we think it's kind of cool,' Peter admitted.

'Well, not _cool_,' Sirius assured Remus, upon seeing the shock on his face. 'But we think it's good that now you won't have to worry about keeping it a secret from us.'

'And we'll be able to help you!' James said.

Remus looked around at the three boys he had been sharing a dormitory with for the past three years, but who he had never allowed himself to be close to. Finally, he smiled.

'Maybe you three aren't so bad,' Remus said.


End file.
